Looking for advice about self defence traning.

[Karl Akkerman]

Hi everyone. To start with I only have vary limited martial arts experience, that being one semester of Aikido as an undergrad in collage. However I do want to learn how to defend myself, as well as support my study of the sword, and so I would like to ask what advice you have on how to develop practical self defense skills?

[RayMcCullough]

I would start with the longsword, then go to Dagger and ringen.

[Vagelis Baltatzis]

Hallo if you look for selfdefense that it would be the best for the start if you learn (''Kampf'')Ringen(selfdefense without weapons).

With the time you can add also weapons like the knife or the longsword.

As a addition to you you can also train in french Savate (de Rue) , who is purely for selfdefense , and cane de combat ...

[Steven Ott]

Self-defence first and foremost is getting out of bad situations. The best self-defense art is "track and field". Being physically able to move is first and foremost, so stretching; strength training and cardio are important. Modern self-defense should really have focus on modern weapons.
I really would like to learn La Canne. Those guys are graceful, deceptive and excellent fighters.

[Karl Akkerman]

Self-defence first and foremost is getting out of bad situations. The best self-defense art is "track and field". Being physically able to move is first and foremost, so stretching; strength training and cardio are important. Modern self-defense should really have focus on modern weapons.
I really would like to learn La Canne. Those guys are graceful, deceptive and excellent fighters.

I fully understand that. Unless one is a Police officer or solider who's duty it is to confront criminals or enemy combatants one should always avoid a fight and even those professionals usually say that they wish to avoid such conflict.

Now my university is in a downtown city area and once I complete my masters degree I might find myself working in an urban area. However I grew up in and at the moment still live in a rural area. As such I don't have the street smarts of a regular city dweller or even the training to help me identify a potently dangerous locations or situations. What I worry about is that I will stumble into a situation without realizing the danger until it is to late.

Hence I would like to learn how to identify such situations so it can be avoided and pick up skills in how to get out of one safely and/or defend myself if I have no other choice. I am absolutely not looking for fights, that is just stupid.

On another note I have already started working on the stretching, strength training and cardio that you emphasized as I have been attending physical fitness classes for the past few months. This is all related to changes I have been making in how I am living my life that I have been working on all year.

As for actual training, in the past couple of days I did manage to track down what sounds like it might be a decent place for martial arts instruction in my area. It is eastern not western, teaching Tae Kwon DO and Ju Jitsu, but I am not going to disparage it for that. I am going to stop by tonight and see what they have to offer.

[Vagelis Baltatzis]

Hallo Karl

yes you are right, looking for fights is stupid and this is not selfdefense ...

Selfdefense is selfdefense , fighting is fighting ....

I believe the human has a natural inctinkt in those situations and can avoid the danger if he will it ... But sure profesional seminars in selfdefense and how to deal with violence can help you very much to understand the violent mentality ....

here a good tipp

http://www.nononsenseselfdefense.com/marcmacyoung.html


Best Regards
Vag

[Karl Akkerman]

Hallo Karl

yes you are right, looking for fights is stupid and this is not selfdefense ...

Selfdefense is selfdefense , fighting is fighting ....

I believe the human has a natural inctinkt in those situations and can avoid the danger if he will it ... But sure profesional seminars in selfdefense and how to deal with violence can help you very much to understand the violent mentality ....

here a good tipp

http://www.nononsenseselfdefense.com/marcmacyoung.html


Best Regards
Vag

Vag, thanks for the link. The information looks very interesting. I will be sure to read it all.

[Steven Ott]

One of the differences between eastern and western thoughts of self defense is that in the west you often see an emphasis to expand your horizons. In the east there seemed to be more, "Study my system and my system alone". Even here in the ARMA or HEMA few will tell you not to study anything else. If you want to study tae-kwon-do go for it.

[Keith Culbertson]

JKD is excellent holistic training per Bruce's blending and practical intensity, my favorite for a long time---probably the closest to ARMA training philosophy, alongside military combatives

[chathura]

:)very useful..thanks everyone:):)

[Randall Pleasant]

Chab

You must change your profile to show your full name as required by our forum rules.

Thank you,

[nathan featherstone]

the best self defence is of course to not fight. if someone robs you its better to give them money than be hurt or killed if you have no other choice than to defend yourself from harm then do but these arts as we know are not to be used to create a false sense of superiority etc. not matter how good a fighter it takes no skill to stab someone in the chest or shoot someone. so run away or simply dont fight.
aside from that there are no definitive self defence arts cross training in different disciplines and being fit and mentally able to deal with violence are the most important. some arts are more focused towards it and some more towards sport etc. ju justsu being an example old school forms are great judo however s more suited to self defence again though they have been altered for sport and this does not work for real life.
self defence wise striking arts are very useful yet it is paramount not to focus on them most fights come down to grappling and when being hit getting close to your opponent and grappling them can work well. arts like wing chun focus on getting close to your opponent and teaching you to strike from where they cant.
personally i feel stick fighting and knife fighting are pretty essential as they are likely things to have at hand or be attacked with.
la canne is great but its down fall is that its primarily for use with a stick alone.
silat and escrima are great styles as they are meant to be taught so that unarmed and armed moves work together being irish this is personally my favourite stick style kinda like the wing chun of stick arts and it has helped many of its students defend themselves in very dangerous situations.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcH0ww_J ... re=related

most of all avoid having to fight run away if you can and dont draw and attention or provoke a fight.

[Sripol Asanasavest]

Yes, avoid getting into dangerous situation if you can. Most of the time you probably don't need to fight. Most people think it's a breeze going into battles or having to fight for your life and kill someone. Most of all the people that survive a war usually have severe Post-traumatic-stress-disorder and commit suicide. Some of that that don't feel as much, that can handle after a while, probably feels pretty ashamed having to kill someone and also end up committing suicide. There are some rare individual who do not feel much if at all and fight well in closed range combat. They don't get sick at the sight of dead human corpses. Some of those people in peace time usually take jobs that involve a lot of risks, such as, firemen, police officers, or bomb squad unit...or they become a hit man if they hate life because they were abuse when they were children. These people are extremely rare! They say King Richard The First has that type of personality. Ice-man! [chuckle]

[corsarius]

the best self defence is of course to not fight.

This is the "ideal world" situation. There are a number of situations in which not fighting is either unethical or impractical. Consider a few:

- The surprise attack: someone attacks you without warning with physical violence.

- Defending others: someone else is under attack and is unable to adequately defend themselves.

- No opportunity for retreat: there is literally nowhere to run to, and your attacker is intent on violence.

I've had the misfortune of being in all 3 situations, despite avoiding places where violence is likely to occur.

ju justsu being an example old school forms are great judo however s more suited to self defence again though they have been altered for sport and this does not work for real life.

Jujutsu is indeed pretty good in this regard (depending on the teacher, the focus of the school, and so on). I'd disagree with judo not working in real life, however.

Colleagues in the law-enforcement/security sector who practice judo exclusively claim that it is extremely effective in practice, mostly due to the constant practice of live-play. A trained judoka against an untrained and unsuspecting opponent is not to be dismissed.

self defence wise striking arts are very useful yet it is paramount not to focus on them ... stick fighting and knife fighting are pretty essential as they are likely things to have at hand or be attacked with... most of all avoid having to fight run away if you can and dont draw and attention or provoke a fight.

Wise words...

[nathan featherstone]

yes this is ideal world situation but things can be done to prevent being in a fight but of course it can always happen when you least expect it.
i meant that judo like jujutsu are taught in amny places with sport in mind a judo coach i once knew would often teach a class then ask outsiders to leave so he could teach his self defence but many places teach as a sport judo is great and its why the japanese police chose it no question on that.
years of learning have paid off in some ways thank you.